Southern region Deaf Youth Football Tournament held

The southern region part of the National Deaf Youth Football Tournament took place on March 24th this year.

It followed the Northern region competition which happened on March 3rd in Liverpool, according to the National Deaf Children’s Society.

It is the sixth time the National Deaf Youth Football Tournament has been staged, with more than 150 deaf youngsters between the ages of five and 18 taking part in each of the regions.

Reading’s Goals Soccer Centre was the location for the Southern Region tournament. The centre is located minutes away from the Reading branch of Leightons HearingCare.

Both deaf teams and those with a mixture of deaf and hearing players were eligible for entry. however, where teams with some hearing players were concerned, more than half of the players needed to be deaf, according to the tournament entry form. For the purposes of the tournament ‘deaf’ people include those with temporary deafness.

The Northern part of the tournament saw 22 teams compete – more than twice as many as had the previous year. A team from Derby won the under-twelve and under-16 boys’ competitions.

Braidwood were the winners in the under-16 girls’ competition and a Belfast team in the under-18 tournament.

The tournament aims to let people have fun and promote awareness when it comes to deaf football.

According to the National Deaf Children’s Society, children who are deaf have a 60 per cent greater chance of experiencing mental health problems.

Even though being deaf isn’t a learning disability, some 65 per cent of English children who are deaf don’t get five GCSEs in subjects including English and Maths at grades A* to C.

More than 45,000 children in the UK are deaf – 90 per cent of them with parents who are not deaf.